Personality and Vocational Motivation: A Study among Catholic Seminarians in Italy Employing the Big Five and the NIRO

Abstract

This paper tests the hypothesis that vocational motivation (as assessed by religious orientation theory) among Catholic seminarians is significantly correlated with their personality profile (as assessed by the Big Five Factor model). Data provided by 170 seminarians in Italy who completed the New Indices of Religious Orientation and the Big Five Questionnaire demonstrated that: the intrinsic orientation is high among seminarians and positively correlated with conscientiousness; the extrinsic motivation is low among seminarians and negatively correlated with emotional stability; and that the quest orientation is quite high among seminarians, positively correlated with openness and negatively correlated with conscientiousness and friendliness. Attention is given to the distinctive strengths and weaknesses of the quest orientation within the context of formation for priesthood.